An alternate to IVORY?

[mikemac]

Would that be EBONY?

Haven't turned anything in a while.. last few attempts left me frustrated... but was inspired by this penblank when I saw it at the local woodshop. For $2.00, I couldn't resist.. tempted to keep it for myself. Ebony turns and finishes nicely, but damn if it isn't hard to photograph []

 

[ed4copies]

BEAUTIFUL pen, Mike.

Be careful to keep it fairly controlled temp and humidity.

Ebony also cracks FAIRLY easily, not as bad as snakewood, but don't let it get REAL hot or cold.

 

[mikemac]

Originally posted by ed4copies

BEAUTIFUL pen, Mike.

Be careful to keep it fairly controlled temp and humidity.

Ebony also cracks FAIRLY easily, not as bad as snakewood, but don't let it get REAL hot or cold.

Thanks.. I didn't know that about Ebony. I do have 2 pieces of Snakewood I'm working my nerve up to turn.. I've had good luck turning them as Euros, more wood left, but not so great luck turning others.. once the wood gets thinner, it definitely cracks way easier.

 

[bitshird]

Mike, that's a very elegant pen, that' some nice Ebony, I'm waiting till I get better before I try it, you did a darned good job with it.[^][^][^][^]

 

[Dalecamino]

For two dollars , I would have given in too ! That's a very nice looking pen Mike . You did a good job on this one ! Thanks for sharing ! [8D]

 

[Ligget]

Classy looking pen, very nice indeed![]

 

[desertyellow]

Great pen.
The story behind the pen... even better.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Very elegant looking pen. I wouldn't call it an alternate to ivory though. Yep, hope it doesn't crack.

 

[PaulDoug]

great looking pen. The finish looks beautiful

 

[rjwolfe3]

very nice

 

[Jim15]

Mike, outstanding pen.

 

[toolcrazy]

Very nice pen. Gotta try that with some African Blackwood.

 

[TAFFJ]

Nice pen!

 

[leehljp]

One of the first pens that I made 3 years ago was from an ebony. No cracks over the three years. Then about 2 months ago (May) I put it in my van in the glove box to have a pen with me as a backup.

Besides being in our car port, I usually park in parking garages in roofed areas when going out to work. A few times when parking lots of restaurants for an hour the temp would hit 110 to 120 in an hours time. Never more than an hour out in the sun.

Still the pen cracked from one end to another sometimes in the last 3 weeks.

The Point: heat will crack the wood. It is fixable if I take the pen apart and CA it to fill the cracks.